Sak yants and chicken noodle soup

Tattoos either you hate them or you love them. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve been fascinated with tattoos, body art and everything a little out of the ordinary. Art in general fascinates me, and I do consider tattoo a form of art. When people ask me why I have so many tattoos, or why I think people get tattoos now a days. First off you get addicted, adding more and more ink to your body. Second I think the younger generation like to keep their art on their body, while the older generation keep it on their walls. With my 25th birthday coming up in a month, I now sport a nice collection of art on my body. Do I regret some? Yes I do. Much like that one hair on that old Russian lady’s mole, I’ve learned to with it. The tattoo I’m talking about is the first one I got. I was 14, my brother was on his way to get his first tattoo. Back then whatever he did, I wanted to do the same. My brother was my idol and I looked up to my cool older brother, always kind of being the annoying little sister that followed him around everywhere. Even stealing his oversized hoodies because I had that tomboy phase. Not giving much thought about what I wanted, I ended up with 3 Chinese signs on my stomach. I’d seen it on a Russian dancer on a cruise boat, and yeah well here we are. What I wanted was peace love and happiness. I know, how original of me. But what I ended up with is probably a recipe for chicken noodle soup. It hurt like hell and my reaction was to cry, with my mother laughing at me and my brother, who I might add was in the bathroom nauseous after his tribal piece. One day I might get a cover up or have it removed, but for now I’ll just live out my twenties with my forever printed recipe on my stomach. Who would’ve thought that crybaby now sport more tattoos than I can count. Here is a little sneak peak of some of my tattoos.

These pictures are from when I studied interior design 2 years ago, two students walked around campus interviewing fellow students with tattoos. The interview is in Norwegian but you can check it out here.

As you guys know getting a Sak Yant by a monk is on my bucket list, and guess who can cross that one off their list? ME! I got my tattoo done through Sak Yant Chiangmai, run by a woman naked Nana. Because most monks will not touch a woman due to the risk of temptation, I felt it better to go through a well known agency to help me out. After the week at elephant nature park, I only planned on staying two days in Chiangmai. But for some reason, my planning skills has gone to shits. Most people who know me, knows that I’m kinda OCD when it comes to planning, cleaning and organising. So with my luck there wasn’t anything available until Thursday. The good thing about being a bit whimsical, is that I’ve learned to relax more. Letting go of that need for control of every single little thing. Being a little whimsical is actually kinda nice, and it’s doing my soul good.

Anyways, their office is a 5 minute walk from Wat Phra Singh. The total cost was 4500 because I wanted the full package, with the monk and the temple tour. You also should use some time to think through what kind of design you would like, read about the rules and aftercare, before you get there. The drive to the temple took about 20 minutes. The temple looked a bit more like where the monks live. Before we started I lit an incense and gave prayer. If you don’t have a clue what you’re doing, don’t worry. The guide is there to help you through all the steps. Just remember to cover your legs and shoulders. I wore an open back t-shirt with buttons, giving easy access for the monk to work, without flashing too much skin. Also I brought a scarf to wrap around my waist and arms while getting the tattoo. The monk drew up the lines, and began working on my back. He used a bamboo needle with a steel tip, and this did actually hurt more than your regular tattoo. To my surprise it only took 10 minutes, and this was the result:

I could not have been happier with the result! The tattoo looks so beautiful and elegant. If you are looking for a great place to get it done, I wholeheartedly will recommend Sak yant Chiang mai. You can read about everything you need to know before getting a Sak yant here. There are some rules to follow, but you can read more about it on their website.

After the tattoo was done we headed over the temple next door, took a walk and just soaked in the whole experience. I don’t remember the name of the temple because my brain won’t cooperate with me today, but it was breathtaking. Here is some pictures from this buddhist heaven.

So there you have it! Have a great day everyone, and if you have any awkward first tattoo stories, please do share them with me 🙂